My dad has owned a health & fitness center for 22 years now and started from nothing. I no longer work for my dad, but I worked under him for almost 4 years. My experience at the gym was good overall, but there were times where I think situations would have been different if under management that was not my dad.
When I first started, I knew that my dad would expect more out of me than his previous employees, and I felt intimidated. My job included cleaning equipment, updating member’s information, writing receipts, taking payments, selling supplements, and signing up new members. It was my first job, so it was stressful having to adapt to this new work environment and perfecting the required skills for the job.
Something that I learned from working under my dad is you can’t take things personally. There were times where I would make a mistake on a receipt or forget to record information in the system, and he would tell me that I would have to fix it or someone else would have the responsibility. I was treated like any other employee for the most part, including pay. He paid me minimum wage and gave Christmas bonuses. I was only a part-time worker since I was in school, so the pay was fair. He gave me opportunities for extra hours, which was nice.
When it came to missing work, I was treated the same as everyone else. If I did not go into work, I did not get paid for those hours, unless it was a holiday that everyone was off. My dad would let me sometimes get off an hour early, but that meant an hour less pay. I have heard of some cases where the kid’s parent pays them back in whatever taxes were taken out, but it did not work that way with my dad. Whatever taxes were taken out was my paycheck.
Overall, I am glad that I have that experience of working for my dad. I worked along with my sister sometimes, so I got to experience the family business. I don’t plan on working there after finishing college, but its experience that has helped me be prepared for the real world, especially not being favored.
Life & Lessons 